Abiah.com, Christian Organization and Ministry Brand Development

Recruit and coach staff to deliver on your brand promise

I've been swamped...we're feverishly working on a product designed to help ministries build their own brands.  It's an incredibly copy-heavy, complex product combined with service support on an as-needed basis.

Since I've been thinking only of that (and I can't reveal anymore about it), I have no thoughts worthy of blogging about. 

But...since we're in the holiday shopping season, I thought I'd share this article I wrote about hiring and training your staff to deliver on your brand promise.  Service is so poor today that it's quite easy really to steal customers from the competition --  just offer good service.

So here's the article...let me know what you think...

For the past few years, the media has been sharing businesses’ complaints about the lack of qualified workers.  Recruiters and business leaders moan about poor work histories, poor skills, and poor attitudes.  The labor pool is overflowing with poor quality candidates.  What’s a business to do?

Your brand is defined in hundreds of moments of truth each day.  People used to tell an average of 13 people about their experience with poor service.  The growth of technology gives them the power to tell millions through the use of email, social networking, and blogs.  You can’t afford one unhappy customer.

Why Band-Aid Brand has become the standard

I was in my first business class in college when I discovered that a band-aid is actually a Band-Aid.  I had no idea that what I was putting on cuts was actually called an "adhesive bandage." 

Johnson & Johnson's Band-Aids have become THE image in the mind of consumers who need an adhesive bandage for a cut.  Sure there are other products out on the market and maybe J&J has lost some market share to competitors like Curad, but there are reasons their product name has become the word consumers use to describe what they need.

First is the cool name.  Band-Aid.  Says it all doesn't it?  I hope the person who thought of that one got paid handsomely.  When a kid has a cut or a boo-boo, what's easier to say? "Mommy I need a band-aid" or "Mommy I need an adhesive bandage" ?  C'mon...The fact that J&J puts cartoon charcters on them now is just icing on the brand cake.

The second reason Band-Aid is the word is because they actually work!  Band-Aids have to take a lot of punishment.  You never get a cut in a place that doesn't get bumped again, or that doesn't sweat, or doesn't rub up against something.

Now regular readers of this blog know that I make no secret of the fact that I'm price driven when it comes to alot of commodities.  I got a coupon...your brand's on sale...a big score.  Recently though I had experienced a great deal of frustration when I kept having to replace my adhesive bandage.  Annoying to say the least.  Well, I had a cut on my heal and actually had a Band-Aid brand bandage on it while I was working in my garden.  That thing stayed exactly where it was supposed to the whole time!

I hate to admit my mom was right about one more thing...Band-Aids rule!

I realize that this is a fairly mature product in a dull market segment, but my friends at J&J need to re-tool their messaging to get back to basics.  People want adhesive bandages that actually stick and stay stuck.  We want to help our little cuts and scrapes to actually heal quickly.

This is another reason why J&J needs to bring back the metal boxes Band-Aids used to come in (they weren't always sold in those boring flimsy paper boxes).  They had a great commercial with a Band-Aid stuck to the box and the box dunked in water.  A powerful visual that people could relate to.

No more generic adhesive bandages in my house.  I'm back to being a loyal Band-Aid buyer. 

I can hear my mom saying "I told you so" now.

Misleading advertising? I'm shocked!

By now we're all aware that Pepsi has come clean with the fact that their bottled water, Aquafina, does not come from some lovely mountain spring as the image on the bottle's label would lead you to believe.  In fact it comes from a public source.  Which is a fancy phrase for tap water.

Pepsi reportedly has said they'll spell out on the Aquafina label that the water comes from "a public source" because "If this helps clarify the fact that the water originates from public sources, then it's a reasonable thing to do."

Now I like to think I'm a reasonably intelligent person and I have to admit that I really thought that water came from some kind of spring.  Since Americans forked over more than 2 Billion (yes, with a B) dollars for Aquafina in 2006 I can tell there are lots of other folks who thought the same thing.

So how much is this little admission going to damage the Aquafina brand?  I'm not sure.  Bottled water is bottled water to me.  As long as it's pure that's all I care about.  It's a commodity that I'm not brand loyal to.

You're in the convenience store and you're thirsty.  You're trying not to drink soda.  You're trying to drink more water 'cause it's good for you.  Do you buy Aquafina which now you know comes from a public source but for years thought was from a natural source or do you buy some other brand?

Or has this little admission by Pepsi, tied in with the recent media coverage about the bottled water industry in general, cause you to not trust other brands either?

Maybe it's time to buy a filtering system for our houses and start carrying our own, huh?

Garden State Veterinary Specialists

My husband and I had to put our cat down yesterday afternoon.  You pet lovers out there can imagine how hard this was.

When our local vet ran out of options she told us to take Lucky to Garden State Veterinary Specialists in Tinton Falls, New Jersey.  Almost 2 hours from us.

From the minute we walked in it was apparent this was the kind of place every pet owner dreams of finding to care for their companion.  It was like walking into a real hospital emergency room, with a few notable exceptions: The people were friendly, responsive, and caring and you waited only 2 or 3 minutes tops before you saw someone whose job was to evaluate your case.

Once we were evaluated, we were taken to a room to wait for the vet.  But the technician who escorted us told us it was so we could be alone with our pet.  What a great thing to say.  We knew what she meant, but it just made you feel good.

One wall of the exam room was covered with the degrees, certificates, and licenses of one of the vets on staff.  This gave the person instant credibility and made us feel like a true expert would be helping us.  Plus, the walls were full of pictures of pets that had been saved or rehabilitated by this doc and the team at GSVS.  Again, this made us feel confident we were in the right place and would get the best care for Lucky.

The vet came in (not the one who's stuff was on the wall but who was able to receive positive spill-over from those things) and she instantly treated us with courtesy and conveyed she cared about us and our little friend.

She gently let us know that things weren't going to look good.

Great dining experience at Seablue

I've mostly shared brand breakdowns with you so I thought it only right that I share a good experience.

My husband and I recently had dinner with friends before a concert in Atlantic City, and we had an outstanding experience at Seablue, Chef Michael Mina's restaurant at The Borgata.  Our experienced started out as "good," and it only got better as the evening progressed.

We got there before our friends and waited at the bar.  Just average service.

As we started talking one of the hostesses remembered me from a presentation I made to her human resources class on HR's role in branding.  I was very impressed that she went out of her way to talk to me. Remembering faces and engaging customers is certainly important in the hospitality industry.

We were seated not long after our friends arrived and the whole dining experience was truly exceptional. 

We had at least 4 people wait on us at various points in the meal.  I can't imagine how they split the tip! 

In addition to the extremely attentive but never intrusive service, the food was truly outstanding. 

Since we had already consumed a week's worth of calories we figured desert couldn't do us much more harm so we ordered two to share.  Their sampler had the unfortunate taste of "refrigerator" if you know what I mean.  It was good, but not fabulous, and it tasted like it had been defrosted or something.

Overall a truly exceptional experience that made us feel every bit like high rollers even though we're not.

Even though the food is expensive, we really felt we had gotten outstanding value for our money and the service really pushed dinner into "an experience."

Seablue certainly delivered on its brand promise of outstanding food, fabulous service, in a great environment.

Little things mean a lot

A member of the Abiah family shared a story that was so good, we wanted to share it with you.

Marge went to a local convenience store & deli that had recently been sold.  It's one of those great local shops that have virtually disappeared from most communities.  While the new owners have made some cosmetice changes, the food has remained as good as it's been in the past.

Marge ordered her usual sandwich and expected to receive it wrapped in its usual wax paper wrapper.  She was really surprised to have it presented to her in a styrofoam carton placed on top of a red and white checked paper napkin. 

Marge was so impressed with this presentation that she actually showed it to the staff in her office.

This experience hammers home some important points to all of us brand builders and business owners.  I'll share a few:

Walking the talk

Hello Brand Builders-

Yesterday I got the latest issue of Workforce Management magazine.  If you're HR staff doesn't get this I highly recommend it.  They also have a great website that's got tons of great free HR articles.

The cover story, Flexibility to the Fullest, is about Best Buy's radical decision to allow its corporate employees to work anywhere, anytime, and in any way necessary.  In other words, people don't have to actually show up to do their work.  They can work from home, they can work from the park.  Best Buy's only concern is that the job gets done.  If an employee gets her work done and gets it done well in 3 days, who cares? 

I don't know your thoughts but this just blows me away!  First of all, lots of companies SAY employees matter, work - life balance matters, but for those of us who have worked somewhere and tried to have work-life balance and got dirty looks when we left early, or were left out of important projects or meetings because we weren't in the office, Best Buy's position is absolutely gigantic.  Here's a company actually taking action that's completely in line with their values.  How many companies can say that?

Let's analyze this decision a little more.  Businesses all over the country have been complaining for years about how hard it is to find and retain good help.  What do you think this new strategy does to Best Buy's recruitment efforts?  Makes it easy as pie, doesn't it?  Can you imagine being the recruiter who tells a candidate about this benefit?

And how about the impact on turnover?  Who would leave a place like that?  Maybe if you won a 200 million Powerball jackpot. 

What about the impact on performance?  People are going to be focused on doing their best work in the time when's best for them. 

In addition to your brand in the consumer marketplace, your business has a brand in the labor market.  Do you know how the company is perceived by applicants?  What about by new hires?  Is there a disconnect between the picture you paint to sell the company to the applicant versus what they discover is reality when they arrive and start working?  In other words, does your company live up to the brand promise it makes to the labor pool?

If you're not living up to that promise, or if there are other internal issues that are limiting or holding your employees back from fully buying into and delivering on the brand promise, you're not going to be as productive or as profitable as you otherwise could be.

Check out that article and give some real thought about how your organization lives its values and delivers on the brand.  Drop us a note or a post and share your thoughts.

Hope this gives you some ideas that will give you a strong return on your brand.

Until next time-

The team at Abiah Designs

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